Point Reyes.

At the end of March I hired a car from Zipcar and went for a drive. Here's the map of my travels.
I started at the Caltrain station in San Francisco (A) and drove north. After wandering around the Marin headlands (B) to get used to the car, I headed for some lunch at Hog Island oyster farm (C).

It wasn't a very good day, overcast with some rain.


The bridge and San Francisco from the Marin Headlands.


I think these are turkeys, not sure if they are wild or not.


The houses next to Hog Island oyster farm.


The car. ;)


The weather cleard up a bit by the time I got to Point Reyes (D).


There were lots of little inlets and gullies on the point. And cows.


The surf beach on the west side, nothing to the left until you hit Japan.


I was dismayed to see the hill next to the light house keepers hut covered in concrete, until I read the sign and worked out that this was the only way to get fresh water.


The point was made up of a very interesting conglomerate.




And there was a Gray whale skull.


There was 302 steps down to the actual lighthouse. Imagine having to climb these in the middle of the night, in a storm every 2 hours to wind the clockwork to make the light go around.


There were a number of tourists on the lighthouse.


The clockwork mechanism. The fans on top are used to regulate the speed of the shaft and there was a weight behind me that connected to the cable down the bottom to power it.


The new light on top of the old foghorn shed.


The old foghorns, the end was about half a metre across.


They have numbered the steps, but only so you can see them on the way up.


I drove up the highest point on the Peninsula and had a good view of Tomales bay, you can see Hog Island on the very left of the water.


I spotted a very cool looking mushroom on the side of the road.




Lookng back at Point Reyes, the lighthouse is over the hump in the middle.


The boatshack, just past Hog Island oyster farm


The sun came out as I headed inland towards Petaluma.


There was some flooding in the fields.


After a quick dinner at Wholefoods in Petaluma, I drove back towards San Francisco and went up Mt. Tamalpais, where I caught a stormy sunset.


It was a misty blue look back at the city. The bridge is to the right.


I went back to the lookout on Marin headland and took a reasonably good phot of the bridge. It was handheld and would have been better if I had my tripod.


I then took the car back to it's spot and went home on the train.

Russian Hill walk.

Due to various complaints suggestions (and some hand raising), I'm doing a blog post.

In the middle of March, I met Trav and Steph on the Caltrain and we went to San Francisco. After a brief lunch and a quick taxi ride, we met John on the corner of Polk and Lombard streets.

Here's a map from Runkeeper, I'm using this one because Google can't follow all the footpaths and this one also shows the elevation change.

Trav also had a guide book which gave short descriptions of some of the houses and features along the route.

From the intersection of Polk and Lombard we walked up Lombard st and went down the steps halfway along on the left, towards Chestnut st.

It was a pretty little lane with some interesting houses and the guide book gave a brief history of some of them.

We saw horses.


And Spanish themed houses.


An interesting slab sided house. I took this over the top of Steph taking a photo.


Some unusual doors.




John, Trav and Steph.


This was outside a villa in Chestnut st, built by the owner of a silver mine.


The rest of the villa.


Listening to the reading of the book.


A set of steps up to the rest of Chestnut st.


View fro the top of the steps, the Golden Gate bridge is hidden by the building, you can just see the on-ramp.


Up on the corner of Chestnut and Larkin streets, looking out over the bay towards Alcatraz island.


See, I told it it was Chestnut and Larkin.


A lovely looking building, with unusual curtains.


We climb up to Sterling park, where the Alice Marble tennis courts are and it had a better view of the bridge.


Alice Marble tennis courts. (obviously)


The building next to the tennis courts, 14 stories on top of a hill in San Francisco, with the Hyde st cable car going past.


Tourists looking down the squiggly bit of Lombard st.


A lovely house on Chestnut st. near Hyde st.


Another cable car coming up Hyde st.


A row of houses in Chestnut st, obviously a topiary competition going on.


Locals going off to a party.


The doorway to the Norwegian church in San Francisco.


A contrast of styles.


House detail.


Comparing pets.


Looking across to Coit Tower.


Another interesting house, see the chimney ?


A long way down to the carport. I wonder if they have an internal tunnel ...


Fay Park. Right hand side of the map.


Marching up the hill.


Another house built on clif. Can you spot the ... ??


Hidden in the foliage.


Red door, blue house.


More tourists going down Lombard st.


The queue of cars waiting to drive down the twisty bits of Lombard st.


Face in the window. He was standing there looking out and when he saw me turn towards him with my camera, he put his hand up.


We then walked across to the souffle place near Coit tower and had a wonderful meal.


Answer to the Spot the ... ? A shower with a view.